UAE, Qatar issue Lebanon travel warning

DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates and Qatar on Saturday urged their citizens to avoid travel to Lebanon, where clashes linked to the conflict in neighbouring Syria have left 10 people dead.

"The UAE foreign ministry has urged citizens not to travel to Lebanon until the tense security situation there is cleared," it said in an English-language statement carried on state news agency WAM.

The advice has been issued "to guarantee the safety of its citizens," senior foreign ministry official Issa Abdullah al-Kalbani said in the statement.

Kalbani also called on "citizens currently in Lebanon to leave the country, and in case they have to stay back for any unavoidable reasons, to contact the UAE embassy in Beirut" to give their whereabouts and contact details.

Qatar issued a similar warning due to the "unstable security situation" in Lebanon, its news agency QNA reported.

Sectarian clashes in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli over the past week have left 10 people dead and sparked fears that the deadly revolt sweeping Syria since March 2011 could spill over into Lebanon. (AFP)